It is important to be on time at the start of the morning and afternoon school sessions and to lessons. The start of school and lessons are used to give out instructions or organise work. If your child is late they can miss work, time with their class teacher getting vital information, cause disruption to the lesson for others, and this can be embarrassing leading to possible further issues.

The school day begins at 8.30am and all pupils are expected to be in school at the time. Morning registration begins at 8.30am and it closes at 9.00am. All lateness is recorded daily. Arrival after the close of registration (8.30am) will be marked as an unauthorised absence. This mark shows them to be on site, but is legally recorded as an absence. If a pupil is late due to a medical appointment, they will receive an authorised absence code.

Please be advised that where possible doctors and dentists appointments are to be made outside of school hours or during school holidays.

School term dates can be found here: Hampshire Term Dates

Pupils who are consistently late are disrupting not only their own education but also that of the other pupils. Ongoing and repeated lateness is considered as unauthorised absence and will be subject to legal action. At Itchen Abbas, this will not include late arrivals as a result of the school bus being delayed.

Please collect your child promptly at the end of the school day. Where late collection is persistent and/or significantly late, the school is obliged to take any uncollected pupil to a place of safety and share concerns as necessary with other agencies. If one is available, the school will place a child into the after school club and provide the parent/Carer with the bill.

Absence

What to do if my child is absent?

A child not attending school is considered a safeguarding matter. This is why information about the cause of any absence is always required.

If your child is absent you must:

• Contact us as soon as possible on the first day of absence via email (with a subject header of absence from school or similar) or phone the school and leave a message on the answerphone.
• Send a note in on the first day they return with an explanation of the absence – you must do this even if you have already telephoned/emailed us;

It is the school’s responsibility to follow of Hampshire’s Attendance Policy and the national requirements. Therefore, we do monitor pupil attendance regularly and will contact you as soon as your child’s attendance reaches close to 95% or below. For more information, please refer to the school’s attendance policy available through our website.

Please follow the following link to find out more about penalties for non-attendance.

https://www.hants.gov.uk/educationandlearning/behaviour-attendance-parents

Should my child be at school today?

Information about childhood illness and whether or not they should be at school can be found via the following link: www.what0-18.nhs.uk//child-unwell-ok-go-nurseryschool

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